Smoker and a pressure cooker?

[NGRIdave]

I have a meat store I go to to get a lot of my meat and they have the best smoked potatoes around. I asked them what temp and how long they do it and they said that they use a pressure cooker that smokes them all in one sha bang. Ever heard of anything like this? When I try to smoke potatoes they usually come out a little too hard or way over done and not as good as theres.
Dave

 

[PPG1]

Not sure but I would bet they use liquid smoke in pressure cooker

 

[JC in GB]

If I were to try smoked pressure cooked potatoes, I would use a variation on and Indian cooking technique.

I would place some kind of container, like a metal shot glass and put a small cube of lit charcoal in it and add a wood pellet or two.

The cook chamber would fill with smoke and combine with the water vapor to form a kind of liquid smoke.

Once the vessel was up to pressure, all air would be purged and the pellets would go out.

I may try this myself...

JC

 

[NGRIdave]

Not sure but I would bet they use liquid smoke in pressure cooker

I wonder if you could do this in one of those insta pots? Heck...If I did it I'd have a lid stuck in the ceiling and mashed potatoes all over the walls!!

 

[Wurstmeister]

If they are making small batches 5-8qt size they probably pressure cooking/drying the potatoes using liquid smoke like PPG1 indicated. That's the process I use with my Air Fryer - pressure cook with smoke flavor, drain the main pot, place on rack or in basket and air crisp @365-375F for 15-20 mins until IT is reached and then crisp at 400F using the air crisp setting or broiler setting. That's the way we did our leg of lamb for Easter.

If they are doing it as a commercial smoke operation; meats, vegetables, hot/cold smoke, in volume, most likely they are using what is called a Smokearoma. This is a pressure cooker with a charring unit inside to heat the 2oz of wood chips of choice. The unit can be used inside any kitchen and doesn't require a separate vent (local codes apply!) A few years back a resturant was featured on Fieri's DDD as the way they do their smoked meats, etc.

Another option is called a "K-Rigg" which is an outdoor propane gas fired grill type pressure cooker/smoker. Strange looking piece of equipment, but, has potential.

Here is a link to their sites if you are interested.
Smokaroma - Broaster Company

K-RIGG


John

 

[NGRIdave]

K-RIGG! Yeah...! THAT'S what I need! Imma tell the wifey about that tonight! 3K...pshhh dat's nothin right!?
lol! Dave
(it is pretty cool though!)

 

[zwiller]

I think those pressure smokers have their place being designed mainly for commercial purposes/built for speed. Seems like there should be a way to hack with our low tech gear as John Wurstmeister already has done. Also, possibly smoke an hour or 2 then pressure cook would be my first guess at more of traditional method.

Not the first time these have been discussed and really wild, they talk about potatoes, and even a review... https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pressure-smoker.126778/

I understand the pressure cooking part being faster and moister but not the smoke. Maybe the pressure assists in penetration. I remember when I first started, I thought there were all these secret/high tech gear that people used to make stellar BBW but no longer do. Good cue is simply TBS until proper IT. That being said, I am fan on injecting and also the use of STPP but not much help on a potato tho.

 

[NGRIdave]

Interesting thread zwiller. I may go in and ask them if I can see it sometime. I may try that wurstmeister idea. I got one of those air fryers so maybe I'll play around with it. Thanks all!
Dave

 

[thirdeye]

I can see how a commercial pressure/smoking device would be the ticket in a restaurant that had high volume or did not have a smoker, but I've used pressure cookers and pressure canners for decades. I currently have 4, from a 21 Qt canner to a 4 Qt Braiser. For experimentation I think you could smoke some potato wedges and then pressure finish them. The pressure time is about 10 minutes, then another 10 minutes for the pressure to release naturally. At this point, let's say they are not the perfect tenderness.... you just put the lid back on and pressure back up for 3 or 4 minutes.

I routinely use a pressure finish on my pastrami, it also works great on short ribs, ox tail, beef cheeks or any type of meats (smoked or not) that you want very moist and tender. Shredded pork or beef for Mexican food is a perfect example.

 

[bill1]

The pressure does 2 things for you...it makes the "cooking fluid" (namely the air and moisture/steam) denser so it cooks the food better/faster, but it also establishes a pressure gradient with the food so it pushes the smoke flavor into the meat. I haven't done the calculation, but I suspect the amount of O2 in a 6 quart sealed pressure cooker is only enough to burn about a tablespoon of pellets or a half a briquette. But that's quite possible enough to give the same smoke flavor to the meat inside as several hours on a conventional offset consuming 20# of wood at atmospheric pressure.

You'll occasionally see kitchen-like pressure cookers on the market that have a separate heating element inside with a place to put pellets or chips. There have even been some posts on this forum reporting some degree of success with these but almost all say to make sure you have a VERY high speed exhaust fan over them so you don't smoke up your house. There are also some (much more expensive) outdoor pressure smokers intended for the residential market that have some followers here. The main complaint against them seems to be "why do I want cook time to go faster? I enjoy the extra beer-drinking time of a conventional pressure smoker."

EDIT: King Cooker K-Rigg and Cajun Express are the outdoor pressure smokers I was thinking of.